A/N: Welcome to yet another Remadora story! This one's an angstier one, but don't worry, I GUARANTEE a happy Remadora ending. I wouldn't be able to write anything that isn't ultimately Remadora, anyway. It's more of a tale of insecurities and doubt and love. I gave this story a chocolate-y theme even though there isn't much chocolate actually in the story, mainly because I wanted to illustrate how chocolate-making is a bitter process, but the ending is sweet. The course of true love never did run smooth :)

Chapter 1: Like Creamy Dark Chocolate

"Hey, Tonks?"

Tonks, who was in the middle of a conversation with Charlie Weasley, looked around to see who had called her name. "Yeah, Remus?"

"Er, I wanted to talk to you about something," Remus said with a small smile. "Can we… go to another room for a minute?"

Tonks glanced around at the crowded table. Number 12 Grimmauld Place after Order meetings was always packed with hungry people who wanted to devour Molly's delicious food. Currently, Charlie was telling her about dragon feeding habits. He had come over from Romania for a while to meet everyone in the Order. Remus had been chatting with Sirius and Kingsley at the other side of the table. "Er, yeah. Sure." She excused herself from the table and walked over to Remus, who led her to the sitting room, which was somehow empty. He closed the door and sat down on a sofa, and she did the same.

"So, you wanted to say something?" she asked him.

She and Remus had developed a very close friendship in the past few months while working in the Order together. She considered him one of her best friends, actually. He was easy to talk to, kind, and funny. They liked to work together, often spending time with each other, just because their friendship was so strong and simple. It helped that they were often paired on missions together, too, since that meant that they would not only be together on the actual missions, but also share the enormous amount of paperwork and reporting that usually followed. Reports were the worst, but thankfully, Remus didn't seem to mind doing them for her. Another perk of being his friend.

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing," he began slowly, appearing uncomfortable. "And I haven't actually told anyone else. Not even Sirius. But I thought I could tell you. Do you… Do you promise not to laugh?"

"Of course I won't laugh," she assured him sincerely. "Don't worry."

"Okay. Well, er, I…" He looked down at his feet, sighing. "I think I like someone."

She broke out into a wide smile. "Aww. That's so sweet. Who is it?"

"Erm, well, she's this woman at the Ministry. You might know her, her name is Kate Arnett. She's in the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Tonks racked her brains. "Oh, yeah. I know who she is. We've met briefly in passing but we don't know each other that well. But from what I see, she seems like a nice person. How do you know her?"

"Well, I've known her since a few years ago, but we don't meet often. Like, three or four years ago, before I taught at Hogwarts, we met in Germany. And then recently I met her at the Ministry, while I was at… er, registration."

"Ah. I see." She knew the werewolf registration was always a sensitive topic for him, so she quickly changed the topic. "Well, Remus, I think that's super sweet!"

He gave a sheepish smile. "Thanks. Don't tell anyone, okay? Especially not Sirius. He's, like, the worst when it comes to teasing. He teased me forever when I liked Erica Alcott in sixth year."

"Erica Alcott, eh?"

A blush rose on his cheeks. "Shut up."

She laughed. "Yeah, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. So, what are you going to do about Kate now? Ask her out?"

"Er, well, that's kind of the thing. I don't know."

She quirked an eyebrow up at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm not sure how far I want it to go. Like, I don't really know if I want to be involved with her for a long time or something, since I have Order duties and everything. And besides, I'm not even sure how much I like her. That's why I came to you. I mean, this is very embarrassing for me, but I feel like you'd have more experience in these kinds of things. Like, dating, and relationships, and all that stuff."

"You're right on that one."

He laughed softly. "Thought so. So I was wondering if you'd be able to help me out? Like, help me figure out how far I want to go with her, and help me… approach her?"

"You want me to help you ask her out?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, obviously you don't have to," he added quickly. "You're not obligated to do anything. I was just-"

"Oh, no, Remus, that's not what I meant," she said, running a hand through her bright pink hair. "I was just clarifying. Of course I'll help you, that's what friends are for! Besides, I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks," he said with a small smile.

"So, how are we going to do this?" she asked him.

"Do this?"

"Yeah. How are we going to help you ask Kate out? Like, do you want me to ask her out for you? Or do you want me to help you ask her out?"

"No, I'm not telling you to ask her out," Remus said. "I mean, I think I should do it myself. I just… I'm not that great with girls."

"Oh, come on. You're great with me."

He gave a smile. "That's not what I mean."

"I know," she said. "Well, I don't think you need to stress or anything, Remus. You'll be absolutely great. Kate's going to be begging to go out with you. You're a great guy. I mean, what's not to like? Don't worry, okay?"

"Thank you, Tonks," he repeated. "That's… that's really sweet of you. Thanks."

"Yeah, of course, Remus." She patted his hand. "So, what do you think about romance lessons?"

He blinked. "Romance lessons?"

"Yeah. Like, I'll teach you how romance works. More importantly, I'll teach you how women work. I mean, every woman is different, and most men have this bad stereotype of women being all needy." She rolled her eyes. "Like, we're not always asking for money and wearing a ton of makeup and going to parties all our lives. Or at least, most of us aren't. And we aren't all being insecure and jealous and stalking our partners. Dumb stereotypes."

"I know," he said sincerely. "I don't think women are insecure and jealous and go to parties all their lives."

"Good, then you're halfway there already. Like I said, every woman is different, so you have to learn the person you're trying to ask out, and then approach her depending on what she likes. You know, if she's more trendy, or traditional, or casual. We can worry about all the details later, though. What do you say? You want me to give you romance lessons?"

Remus seemed to be thinking about it. "Yeah, I'd like that. As long as…"

"We keep this from Sirius," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "Thank you, Tonks. Thank you so much."

"My pleasure," she told him genuinely. "I'm glad to help out. And besides, I'm happy for you. Kate Arnett is one lucky woman. How old is she, do you know?"

"Twenty-nine or thirty, I think," he answered, running a hand through his brown hair. "Not much younger than me."

"Mmm," she said thoughtfully. "Okay, then. I'll let you know when we can do our 'lessons', okay? Not a word to Sirius."

"Not a word to Sirius," he agreed. "Thanks again."

She grinned. "Yeah, of course. Now, should we get back to dinner? Everyone's going to be wondering where we went."

"Yeah, you're right." He stood up and offered her a hand, which she took, getting up and out of the sofa and dusting off her robes.

"All right, let's go."

They made their way back into the kitchen together, where everyone was still sitting and chatting. Tonks smiled at Remus and took her seat next to Charlie again.

"Hey, Tonks," Charlie said. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Tonks replied cheerily. "Remus just wanted to talk to me about something. Anyway, keep telling me about your dragons! You were saying something about Norberta?"

"Oh, yeah! So, she's really picky about what she eats, you know, she…"

Tonks tuned out of Charlie's rather boring monologue, instead watching Sirius and Remus, who were across the table. Sirius was whispering into Remus's ear, causing him to roll his eyes and mutter something back. It was probably another one of his dirty jokes. Sirius and his dirty jokes were inseparable. He had a whole repository of them.

She was happy for Remus. Being a werewolf, he was normally apprehensive about relationships with women. Sirius had already told her everything about Erica Alcott, the girl Remus had liked in sixth year. Remus had liked Erica for a few months, and his friends, the Marauders, had been more than eager to help. Only Remus had been too scared to ask her out, or tell her that he liked her. The closest he had gotten was giving her a hug, and then he had chickened out and hidden from her for the rest of the year.

But now, somehow, Remus liked someone. Tonks knew Kate, somewhat. She was really pretty, with dark brown, almost black hair. She was tall, and thin, and curvy in all the right places. She was much prettier than Tonks, at any rate.

"Hey, did Bill tell you about Fleur?" Charlie asked her in a low whisper.

"No, who's that?" Tonks asked, trying to pretend like she had been listening all this time.

"Fleur Delacour? He didn't tell you?"

"Fleur Delacour?" Tonks asked. "Wasn't she a Triwizard Champion or something?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"Why would Bill tell me about her?" Tonks asked, confused.

Charlie snuck a surreptitious glance at the other end of the table, where Bill was now talking to Kingsley. "Don't tell him I told you, okay?"

"Okay?"

"They're seeing each other. Bill and Fleur. Something about Bill teaching Fleur English. But now they're seeing each other, only he hasn't told anyone yet. Especially Mum." Charlie snorted. "Can you imagine how Mum would react? I have a feeling she and Fleur aren't going to get along that well when Bill finally introduces them."

Tonks snorted too. "Is it serious? Like, are they planning to… get married, or something?"

Charlie shrugged. "I dunno. You're going to have to ask him, I guess. And remember, don't tell him I told you."

"Yeah, don't worry. I won't tell him." She leaned her head against her hand, watching all of the different people around the table. People were slowly starting to leave Grimmauld Place and go back home.

"Charlie! Come on!" Molly instructed just then. "We're leaving."

"Gotta go," muttered Charlie, standing up and pushing in his chair. "See you later, Tonks."

She waved at him as he walked to his mother, who was standing at the end of the room.

After the Weasleys left, the room became considerably quieter, although Mundungus was still making a fuss over at the sink. She caught Remus's eye from the other side of the table, and he gave her a smile.

"Tonksie!" Sirius announced. "Are you staying the night?"

"Not tonight," she answered apologetically. "But maybe later this week? Thursday, maybe? I have an evening shift then, so I can spend the night here."

"Okay," said Sirius. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yeah," Tonks said. "I'll see you on Thursday, yeah?"

"Yep," said Sirius. "Bye."

Tonks waved at him and then turned to Remus. "Thursday sound good?"

He seemed to be observing her for a moment. "For…"

"For what we talked about earlier." She gave him a meaningful look.

"Oh. That. Yeah, sure. Thursday's good."

She nodded. "Cool. See you guys."

And with that, she was out the door.

A/N: All reviews would be greatly appreciated! This is part 1/8 of the story.